Always right here
by Cimorene14
Summary: "I could never look at you, Maya Penelope Hart, as a pity case." He smiled gently at her, entwining her fingers with his.


**I'll be honest, I don't know what possessed me to publish this. I started it with one plot in mind and then it just sort of became something else, and it's all over the place. But I like the ending so I'm publishing it anyway. I'll tell you what though, Lucas and Maya are precious cinnamon buns that need to be protected at all costs :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Girl meets world...but you knew that because if I did Lucas and Maya would be all over each other and it would be more sickening than they already are.**

* * *

He was angry again.

The last time he'd been like this, Riley was having problems with a guy in her apartment complex being too handsy. Lucas had marched over there and shoved the guy through a wall. Maya had laughed.

This time it wasn't Zay, Farkle, or even Riley that he was up in arms over.

It wasn't as funny when it was her.

"Lucas you should really calm down!" Zay tried to catch one of his friends wildly swinging arms as he shoved his way through the heavy front door of Maya's apartment.

"Lucas! I wasn't even supposed to tell you, she's going to be mad enough as it is without you barging in and antagonizing her!" Riley had used this logic on him three times already, it hadn't even slowed him down.

"What's going on?" They all looked up as Katy Hart came hurrying from the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel.

They all looked towards Lucas, who only managed to get out one word calmly;

"Maya?"

"Fire escape." He was walking towards Maya's bedroom before the words had even completely left her lips.

"Lucas sto-" Riley began again, hurrying after him.

"Riley, let him go to her." They all looked towards Farkle this time.

"What? But they'll tear each other apart!" She looked towards her best friend's bedroom door which Lucas had firmly closed behind him.

"Somehow-" He shared a smirk with Zay. "I doubt that."

All she gave him was a confused look

"Let us explain to you about the birds and the bees, darlin." Zay took her arm and sat her down between him and Farkle.

Lucas stepped through the bedroom door and shut it quietly but firmly behind him. He took a second to scan the familiar room, trying to figure out what mood the fiery blonde he was here to see, was in. Everything in her room looked relatively normal, but while there was no visible alcohol, or smoldering remains of her favorite brand of cigarette's, he was entirely sure that she'd already broken out her special reserves of vodka and Marlboro reds.

"You going to stand there and stare at my underwear all day or are you coming out here?" Her voice startled him out of his thoughts and he realized he'd been staring directly at her open underwear drawer.

"Drawing the skyscrapers again?" He asked, nudging her over so he had room to sit down next to her.

"Nah, the guy across the street has a new fireplace so I've been trying to capture the smoke patterns." She tilted her sketchpad towards him slightly, letting him lean into her personal space so he could look.

"This one's great." He pointed at one in particular, where she'd shaded it so it almost looked like it was drifting off the page. She'd drawn in a train to go with the smoke as well, and he could tell she'd been practicing the new techniques she'd been so excited about last week.

"I thought so too." Her tone was quiet, letting him know that she'd specifically wanted him to notice that one and tell her if it was as good as she'd thought. He sat there for a moment just listening to the sound of pencil scratching on paper.

"Were you going to tell me?" He kept his eyes forward, her pencil stopped moving and she turned her head towards him.

"About what?" She sounded genuinely confused, but he knew her better than she thought.

"You went to see your dad yesterday." He was blunt, letting her know that he knew exactly what happened and he didn't want to put up with her trying to bullshit her way out of it.

"Riley." She sighed. It wasn't a question. "Yes, I went to see the other half of my DNA." Her lips formed a twisted version of a smile.

He tried to think of something to say but his thoughts were a muddled mess of anger that she'd been put through this, and guilt that she'd gone through it alone.

"Lucas, I'm fine. He walked out on me before, it's not like I expected us to braid each other's hair and talk about our feelings." She let out the fakest laugh he'd ever heard her give before.

He managed to say; "I would've gone with you."

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you." She poked his cheek.

"I just don't understand why you didn't come to me." He couldn't let this go, she was always there for him when he had trouble with his coach, or his dad, or being Mr. Perfect. But she never came to him for anything more than forgetting her locker combination, or losing the key to her apartment.

"Come on, Huckleberry. It's ok." She focused back on her drawing, but her outward façade of calm didn't fool him anymore.

"I know you better than you seem to think, Maya. It's not ok, and it's never been ok."

"Let it go, Lucas." Her voice got a degree colder and she used his name, it was a warning to stop. He didn't listen.

"You can't-"

"I can't what?" She didn't lift her head, so he couldn't be sure what her expression was, but from the way her fingers curled around her drawing pad and her knuckles turned white, he could tell it wasn't happy. "I can't keep a private moment with my estranged father to myself? I can't make the decision not to tell you something that I didn't want you to know about? I can't do anything anymore without Mr. Perfect, Mr. Knight in shining armor, here to save the day?" She finally raised her head and the look in her eyes chilled him to the core.

"I don't need saving, Lucas. I don't want it and even if I did, I definitely don't want it from you." Her eyes were cold steel, and they stared unflinchingly into his.

"Maya…" His mouth was dry, she'd never looked at him like this. He'd seen her look at other people like this, her ex boyfriends when she finally, inevitably ended it, anyone who messed with Riley, Farkle, Zay, even him. It was the look she got whenever someone mentioned her father. It was the look that meant you were nothing to her and she wouldn't hesitate to crush you if she had to. Only there was something else…fear.

"I am not a pity case." She gripped her notebook just a little tighter on the word 'Pity.'

And with that his anger was gone as he realized what was wrong.

"You're not." He agreed. Her eyes flickered towards him for a split second, a small flash of surprise at his simple agreement.

"…Well, now that we have that out of the way, you can leave. Because I'm fine." She stood in one smooth motion, her fingers still tightly wrapped around her sketchpad.

"Yes, I suppose I could do that." He stood too, nodding as if he were thinking it over. "But that's probably not going to happen."

"I-gah!" She turned back towards him just as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his body.

"You see, Shortstack. You seem to have gotten the wrong idea of what I've been trying to do this whole time." He tangled his right hand in her hair and silently laughed at how quiet she suddenly was. If he didn't know her better, he would say that she was shocked speechless. But of course Maya Hart was never speechless around her Ranger Rick.

"You seem to have gotten the idea that I look on you as some sort of charity case. As if I, Ranger Rick, could ever look on you, Maya fucking Hart, as some sort of project for me to feel better about myself. It's almost as if you still haven't guessed exactly why I let you call me silly names, or why I show up, no matter how late it is, to help you break into your own apartment when you forget the key."

"It's not breaking in if it's my own apartment, stupid." Her voice was muffled from being pressed against his chest.

"Or why I sit for literal hours in one uncomfortable position to the next just so you can get that perfect pose for a painting." He continued as if she hadn't said anything. "How about the time I spent three days in a dangerous sick zone taking care of you because you didn't want anyone else getting sick?"

"I hardly think a common cold is dangerous!" She was indignant now.

"I spent a week in bed after catching that "Common cold!" He pulled away from her just enough to see her face.

"And who was it that watched over you that whole week at great risk to herself?" She blew some hair out of her eyes.

"Only because her mother felt guilty that I'd gotten sick!"

"Oh please! You're like three times the size of me, that little cold was practically nothing to you." She jabbed him in the chest with her pointer finger.

"Ooh! So you admit that you're incredibly short then?" He grinned at the look of surprise on her face.

"No! I only point out that you're inhumanly tall!" That look she always had around him, one of hidden laughter was back in her eyes.

He caught her finger as she went to jab his chest again.

"I could never look at you, Maya Penelope Hart, as a pity case." He smiled gently at her, entwining her fingers with his. "I just don't want you to think that you have to go through these things alone, when I'm right here…I'm always right here." Her eyes were full of an indescribable emotion, searching his for something he couldn't quite guess.

"Lucas?" His name escaped her lips in a quiet, breathy tone that made his skin tingle.

"Yeah, Clutterbucket?" His smile widened at the flash of annoyance in her eyes.

"You're an idiot."

"I know, Pancake. I know."

They crawled back through her window, and even though they'd ended the conversation the same way all their conversations seemed to end, something had changed. Lucas would never forget the look in her eyes when he told her he was always right there. And Maya would never forget the feeling in her soul when he'd held her hand.


End file.
